Power-driven wire-steel-wool machine



June 24, 1930.

w. H. ROBBINS POWER DRIVEN WIRE STEEL-WOOL MACHINE Filed Aug. 31, 1928 10 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR ATTORNEY w. H. ROBBINS 1,766,356

POWER DRIVEN WIRE STEEL WOOL MACHINE June 24, 1930.

Filed Aug C51, 1928 10 SheetsSheet 2 Z6 I F 13 mf fi n an 1111M Q Q J 5 7 7 INVENTOR UQZZLam Dfv JMAWYW ATTORNEY w. H. ROBBINS 1,766,356 POWER DRIVEN WIRE STEEL WOOL MACHINE Filed Aug.v 51, 19 28 10 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTORF mm ff,

A TTORNE Y June 24, 1930. w, ROBBINS 1,766,356

POWER DRIVEN WIRE STEEL WOOL MACHINE Filed. Aug. 51, 1928 I10 Sheets-Sheet INVENTOR Kai/62mm N BY WWW-7 M A TTORNE Y June 24, 1930. w. H. ROBBINS 1,766,356

POWER DRIVEN WIRE STEEL WOOL MACHINE Filed Aug. 31, 1928 1o Sheets-Sheet 5 Y INVENTOR (1mm ff WI M ATTORNEY June 24, 1930. w. H. ROBBINS 1,766,356

POWER DRIVEN WIRE STEEL WOOL MACHINE Filed Aug. 31, 1928 10 Sheets-Sheet 6 INVENTOR A TTORNE Y June 24, 1930. w. H. ROBBINS POWER DRIVEN WIRE STEEL WOOL MACHINE Filed Aug. 31, 1928 10 Sheets-Sheet' 7 mw NTOR,

mm JV. was, BY W Y W ATTORNEY June 24-, 1930. w ROBBlNs 1,766,356

POWER DRIVEN WIRE STEEL WOOL MACHINE Filed Aug. 51, 1928 10 Sheets-Sheet 8 INVE OR BY] 2 i I A TTORNE Y June 24,1930. w. H. ROBBINS POWER DRIVEN WIRE STEEL WOOL MACHINE Filed Aug. 31 1928 10 Sheets-Sheet 9 June 24, 1930 w. H. ROBBINS 1,766,356

' POWER DRIVEN WIRE STEEL WOOL MACHINE Filed Aug. 51, 1928 10 Sheefs-Shoet 1o INVEN OR wmflm A TTORNE Y m the same tool of loops.

Patented June 24, 1930 WI'LLIAM H. lnoniams, or sreineninnn; 01110, ASSIGNORTO WI nnm'mrs 'eo1|lt rn1\1pr,

intention relates to 1 steel 65 1 Ina-l o chines."

6 It is the object of my invention'to provide af-s'teelw'vool machine in which the strain on the wirewill-be so reduced as to revent its breaking and to insure its uru ormfeed,

while at the same timeperrnitting of the 'themachine easier to operate; i It is a further'obje'ct of my nvention to Referringto thejdraw ngs L g Figure 1 isa front elevat on 'of "the ma f 30 Figuregis a rearlelevation thereof iFigurefi'i's a s'ectionon the lme 3 3 of I Figure :6 istan end chine i is a detail $16.6 new of the tool.

the construction ofthe machine. By e 11111 nating "flthis i driving mechanism sheaves 'I am enabled. to re novethe necha -f neymaking nism over the bed'of the niachi provide a machine which will he rei e'rsihle,

support horizontal franrie' members '2" and are interconnected fore and aftby the shafits machine completely in one direction, :it may be reversed and j'moir ed in the "other I direcie s t wi b me t 'w yi n r-i chine.

Figurel. v 6 Figure 4 is a similar-section showing a inodifiedvform ojf't jm iCh n e t Figure 5 is a front 'ele'vationof the Ina-"j chlnee wlth Wmdlfiedjmmi f 'e1dge9thet' hasxits urrder;surface rucgaway in'a'n' arcuate 'oove" for receiving a rockv ing wire gui e 11 thatjisjprovided on its lower face with; a plurality Lof gro'twes "12,

drive shown in Figure 4. I x c levation of the ma- Figure 7, holder and toolcutter. o

Figure 8;is aplan-viewthereoi.

of Figurefi showing the driving mechanism in neutral position.

of Figure 6 showing the "parts diagramn iown-naive:lwne-s mwaq i ingand unwinding mechanism in neutral position; '1

further object to necessity or'drii ing' the heaves over wh ch the wire is looped and to"ther'eby='s1ni Figure 12 is a, partial top plan view of Figure 1, showing the driving mechanism for the winding and-unwinding mechanism igure13 1s-"=a section onthe'fli'ne 1313 use of a plurality 10f loops of wire" on which one toole'ither' operates on *a'isingle loop or. 'will"operate "on a plurality} of Figure 12 showing the means for 'j'moving one of the winding druins 'p' ogressive- -;ly, inwardly an'd outwardly!" iidhFiglfih, howing the mechanism fo n a n g? certain of 2 .th v O ry OSiti 1 ears *in staner ofsup ortingthe' uides forthe' strands.

Referring to the 'drawings ifn d'et'a-il, 1

' ind'ic'ates *fou'r upri hts oonstituting the supporting' portion et the, frame of' the machine} lhese 'uprights may be feither chan- The cutting machine jprober ha own independent frame-"consisting" of 'vertical and supporting members 4: and a; "cutting table 'Thistable '5="is' provided with a plurality of horizontally dls'posed apertures in which the.loopsof -wire m travel; By

'havin thisrrockin ide thefsize' o'f the F 9 a section on the line 9 "wires"as theyare cut is accominodated so 1 igure 1s Figure 7. q

' Figure 10 1s a. section on the line 10-10 presented tothe cutting tool edge 14*of the 'cuttingtool 15L M -15? "fThes'e guides '11-'-are"si1pported on pins 16 which project through the ledge 9' e of the table 5. These pins inove into' thepslot 17 of the'table'ledge 9- and are suppor'ted for this rocking movement by rollers 18 traveling on a rocking surface 19, mounted on the top of the ledge 9.

The tool holder itself consists of a horizontal bed member 20 having a tool side wall engaging shoulder 21 that is stationary,

. and a removable shoulder 22 which is adapt- 23 projects, and upon which the tool holder 2O rests.

In order to determine the angularity of the tool holder and its tool with respect to the wire 13, spaced set screws 26 are provided engaging either end of the bracket where these screws are carried by the ledge 9, and maintained in adjusted position by the set screws 27 and collars 28, so that it is possible to fix the exact angularity of the tool holder and tools with respect to the wire 13 and thereby control which one of the tools will, engage the wire, depending upon the direction of the wire.

These tools-are located beneath the ledge 9 so that the strands of steel wool cut from the wire may be conveniently removed therefrom.

It will be observed that the wire 13 is arranged in a plurality of loops upon the idler sheaves 29 which are rotatablysupported in bearing boxes 30 on either end of the bed 5. The free ends of the wire 13 are conveyed to drums 31 that are alternate- 1y used as winding and unwinding drums. While one drum'is winding the other is unwinding. By use of brake-32 controlled by brake levers 33 and the use of a winding variable speed motor 67, a uniform tenslon is maintained on the wire. This mechanism will be explained hereinafter in detail.

Wire driving mechanism In order to relieve the strain on the wire so that the entire pull against the tools for winding purposes will not be taken upon the single strand of wire, I provide the following mechanism.

shaft 36, but for the purpose of clearness I have shown the typical arrangement indicated on the drawings.

On this shaft 36 between the arms same uniform section,

. 1,7ee,ssc

and 35 is mounted a grooved driving drum 40 havin a plurality of grooves 41 for receiving the loops of wire as they pass over the top of the table. In some instances it may be found necessary to provide means on top of these loops of wire for maintainingthem in the grooves. If such a means is desired I ,.provide a flat surface roller 42 which is spring pressed in position by the spring 43 engaging the ends of the roller shaft 44 on the blocks 45, which blocks are guided in grooves 46 in the upper ends of the arms 35 and 35". Thus any size of wire will be accommodated by the roller which may rock laterally.

While I have shown for the purpose of clearness in Figures 3 and 4 the wires of the et in practice they will not remain in uni orm section as eac one will be varied from the other, due to the fact that they do not have the same amount of wire cut from them as the cutting progresses, but due to the smallness of the drawing it is difficult to show this fine variation in the size of wire.

Thus, by my mechanism, I am enabled to apply the driving sheave to each of the loops of the wire independently of the other loops to synchronize their movement by a com mon application of power at a common location. I have eliminated the necessity for driving the end sheaves with the complication of gearing, shafting and motor and secure a new and improved function in that I do not have to synchronize the pull on the remote places which sometimes results in the fracturing of the wires because if there is wear on the gears, motor, shafting and the like, one sheave may be driven at a different rate from the other sheave, and thereby put an unnecessary strain upon the loops of wire and bring about an irregular chattering movement which is not desirable when making uniform grades of wool.

By having a single point to the application of the power, the necessity for synchronization has been eliminated and I am enabled to secure an improved result. In the modified form shown in Figure 4 and further illustrated in Figure 5 I provide an extra frame member 47 in case it is not desired to put the modified form directly on the tool bed 5. Either Way may be followed.

The particular different feature of this modification is the utilization of a grooved upper roller 48 in place of the smooth roller 42. It is otherwise spring pressed in posi-' tion and the shaft 44 of the grooved roller 48 is driven by the gear 49 meshing with the driving gear 50 on the shaft 36, so that the amount of surface engaged by the driving mechanism is substantially doubled.

The two rollers 40 and 48 are synchronized in their movement by the gears 49 and 50 and the power so applied to the loops of wire so that no ulling or stretching of the wire will take p ace. Thus the advantages of a duo drive, closely adjacent to one another, applyin the drive to substantially the same area of t e wire, is secured.

W indz'ng and unwinding mechanism Any form of winding and unwinding mechanism may be employed. I have shown one form which I have found to be successful, but it forms no art individually of the present invention. t is 'merel shown and described for the purpose 0 showing a completely operative machine.

I provide inverted V-shaped members 51 mounted on the upper frame member, supporting at either end the shaft 52. On this shaft 52 is a cradle 53 adapted to swing back and forth by reason of a lever 54 which depends from the bottom of the cradle with in reach of the operator. This arm 54 carries a hand operated latch mechanism 55 which is adapted to actuate the lower ends of either one of the locking levers 57 and 58,

which have lockingnotches 59 forengaging Y with the shafts 3 of the winding and unwinding drums 31. The ends of these levers are also provided with looking notches 60 for cooperating in this locking arrangement.

By operating the hand operated structure 1 55 either one of these locking levers can be unlocked. When the operator swings the cradle to either side the notch 59 will engage the other shaft 3 on the other side. This resultsin placing the pinion 61 in engage ment with th gear 62 on the shaft 3 which will convert one of the drums 31 into a' winding drum while the other drum 31 will be an unwinding drum. As the free ends of the wire are wound on these respective drums, the brake 32 heretofore described will engage the flange of the drum and prevent it from unwinding too rapidly.

Pinion 61 is a long pinion and is mounted so'that it will engage with the gears 62 as they move in and out in order to wind the wire evenly on the drums and evenly unwind it. The mechanism for this purpose will be described hereinafter. Pinion 61 is mounted .upon the shaft 63. This shaft carries on its other end a gear 64 which is in turn driven by the pinion 65 on the armature shaft 66 of a variable speed motor 67.

I utilize avariable speed motor inorder to accommodate the varying strain upon the wire, the varying speed being necessary due to the difference in size ,of the drum of wire asit is wound and unwound.

Referring to the means for moving the drum inwardly and outwardly and uniform winding and unwinding, this mechanism will be shownparticularly in Figure 13. The shaft 3 has mounted thereon an arm 68 that projects laterally along the arm in spaced relationship thereto within the housing 69 carrying the gear 62, and above a cam 70 and a cam groove 71. This cam is loosely mounted upon the shaft 3 and has one end thereof abuttin against the supporting flange 72 of the rum 31. Thearm 68 has a depending cam roller 73 working in the cam groove 71. As the drum rotates, it is thereby caused to reciprocate on the shaft 3 with respect to the other shaft 3, stationary arm 68 and stationary depending cam roller 73. The inner end ofthe drum 70 is provided with a gear 74; that in turn meshes with a pinion 75 carried on a pinion shaft 76, the other end of which carries. a pinion 77 engaging'with a gear 78. This gear is a non-operative gear, being held in non-operative position by the arm 79 which is slidably mounted at its upper end upon the shaft 52.

It will 'be understood that the entire mechanism consisting of the gearing, cam member and drum will be movedwslowly backwardly and forwardly for the winding of the wire and the unwinding thereof.

In laying out the cam groove I find it capacity of approximately double the power necessary for operating the drums. This gives sufiicient power to keep a tension on the wire. It thus cooperates with the dIlV- ing roll or roller in driving the last loop of wire'across the cutting kmve's. The motor used for driving the rollers may be a constant speed motor. i

When it is desired to reverse the direction of the driving means, I provide the usual switch 79 which reverses the direction of the motor 39, or any suitable reversing clutch may be employed if the motor is aconstant speed motor.

It will be understood that I desire to comprehend within my invention all the modifications necessary to adapt it to varysupporting a loop of wire, means for maintainin said wire under tension 1n a looped condition, means for cutting said wire and means for driving the wire independently,

of the means for maintaining it under tension, said driving means being located between the looped supports.

2. In a steel." wool, machine, means for tainlng said wire under tension in a looped condition, means for cutting said wire,

' means for driving the wire independently of the means for maintaining it under tension, said driving means being located between the looped supports, and means for causing said wire loop to engage a driving means.

8. In a steel wool machine, means for supporting a loop of wire, means for maintaining said wire under tension in a looped condition, means for cutting said w1re, means for driving the wire independently of the means for maintaining it under tension, said driving means being located between the looped supports, and means for causing said wire loop to engage a driv ng means, said last mentioned means conslsting of a second driving means engaging the opposite side of the loop.

4. In a steel wool machine, means for supporting a loop of wire, means for maintaining said wire under tension in a looped condition, means for cutting said wire, means for driving the wire independently of the means for maintaining it under tension, said driving means being located between the looped supports, and means for causing said wire loop to engage a driving means, said last mentioned means consisting of a second driving means engaging the opposite side of the loop and super-imposed thereon.

5. In a steel wool machine, means for supporting a loop of wire, means for maintain-' ing said wire under tension in a looped condition, means for cutting said wire, means for driving the wire independently of the means for maintaining it under tension, said driving means being located between the looped supports, and means for causing said wire loop to engage a driving means, said last mentioned means consisting of a second driving means engaging the opposite side of the loop and superimposed thereon, said driving means being adapted to be driven synchronously on opposite sides of the strand forming the loop of wire.

6. In a steel wool machine having a single strand of wire arranged in a plurality of loops, means for supplying said wire and taking it up to keep it under tension, idler means at elther end of the loops for supporting them in predetermined position, means independent of said idler means for engaging all of said loops and driving them synchronously from a common point of the application of the power, means for main taining said loops of wire in engagement with the driving means, said driving means consisting of a second driving means oppositely disposed from the first driving means and engaging the other sides of the loops of wire, means for yieldingly accommodating the varying sizes of the wire passing between said driving means, and means for driving said driving means synchronously.

7 In a steel wool machine having a single strand of wire arranged in a plurality of loops, means for supplying and taking up the wire under tension, idler sheaves for supporting the ends of the loops, an intermediate grooved Qriving sheave ada ted to engage the loops of wire, means or driving said grooved driving sheave and means for driving the means for taking up the free end of the wire.

8. In a steel wool machine having a single strand of wire arranged in a plurality of loops, means for supplying and taking up the wire under tension, idler sheaves for supporting the ends of the loops, an intermediate grooved driving sheave adapted to engage the loops of wire, means for driving said grooved driving sheave, means for driving the means for taking up the free end of the wire, and a spring pressed roller super-imposed upon said loops of wire above the point of application thereof to the grooved driving sheave.

9. In a steel wool machine having a single strand of wire arranged in a plurality of loops, means for supplying and taking up the wire under tension, idler sheaves for supporting the ends of the loops, an intermediate grooved driving sheave adapted to engage the loops of wire, means for driving said grooved driving sheave, means for driving the means for taking up the free end of the wire, and a spring pressed roller super-imposed upon said loops of wire above the point of application thereof to the grooved driving sheave, said roller being adapted to rock laterally to accommodate the varying diameters of the respective loops ofwire.

10. In a steel wool machine having a single strand of wire arranged in a plurality of loops, spaced idler sheaves for supporting said loops of wire, means for supplying and taking up said wire at its free ends and maintaining it under tension on its sheaves, a grooved driving drum located between said sheaves, means for cutting wool from said loops of wire, oppositely disposed from the driving means, anda second grooved driving means, super-imposed on the first grooved driving means engaging opposite sides of the loops of wire whereby the two driving means have their power applied in substantially the same area of the loops of wire.

11. In asteel wool machine having a single strand of wire arranged in a plurality of loops, spaced idler sheaves for supporting said loops of Wire, means for supply of loops spaced idler sheaves for supporting said loops of wire, means for supplying and taking up said Wire at its free ends and maintaining it under-tension on its sheaves, a grooved driving drum located between said sheaves, means or cutting wool from said loops of wire oppositely disposed from the driving means, a second grooved drivin means super-imposed on the first groove driving means engaging opposite sides of the loops of wire whereby the two 'driving means have their power appliedin substantially the same area of the loops of wire,

means for synchronizing the drivin of said means super-imposed driving means, an for yieldingly maintaining "said driving means in contact with said loops of wire.

13. In a steel wool machine having a single strand of wire arranged in a'plurality of loops, spaced idler sheaves for supporting said loops of wire, means for supplying and taking up said wire at its free ends and maintaining it under tension on its sheaves, a grooved driving drum located between said sheaves, means forcutting wool from said loops of wire oppositely disposed from the driving means, a second grooved driving means super-imposed on the first grooved driving means engaging opposite sides of the loops of wire whereby the two driving means have their power applied in substantially the same area of the loops of wire, means forsynchronizing the driving of said super-imposed driving means, means for yieldingly maintaining said driving means in contact with said loops of wire,

15. In a steel wool machine havin a single strand of wire arranged in a pluraIity of loops, means for supplying and taking off wire from the machine and maintaining it under tension, a variable s eed motor for driving said means, means or supporting said loops on idlers', means for driving said wire by engaging all of said loops through a common riving means between sald idlers, means for cutting wool from said loops of wire, means for reversing the direction of the wire and means for reversing the cutting means of the wire. T

16. In a steel wool machine having a single strand'of wire arranged in a plura ity of loops, means for supplying and taking off wire from the machine and maintaining it under tension, a variable speed motor for driving said means, means for supporting said loops on idlers, means for driving said wire by engaging all of said loops through a common driving I means between said idlers, means for cutting wool from said loops of wire, means for reversing the direction of the wire and means for reversing the cutting means of thewire, and means for reverslng the direction of the driving means on the loops of wire. I In testimony whereof,'I aflix m signature.

WILLIAM H. R BBINS.

and means ,for permitting ,of the movement of the driving means with respect to one another to accommodate variations in cross section of the loops of wire with respect to one another.

14. In a steel wool machine having a single strand of wire arranged in a plurality of loops, means for supplying and taking off wire from the machine and maintaining it under tension, a variable speed motor for driving said means, means for supporting said loops on idlers, means for driving said wire by engaging all of said loops through a common driving means between said idlers, and means for cutting wool from said loops of wire. 

